Shroff – Pearl

I got this sample from Ashok Kapur, the owner of Padma Store.

Pearl are 9″ long soft masala with a burning time of approximately 70 minutes per stick. At Padma Store, you can get them in 50g packs for €10.95.

Someone once said that Mother’s Ganesh Nagchampa are lavender incense sticks for people who don’t like lavender, and I think you can claim that about Pearl as well.

Pearl smell distinctly of lavender, but not in that herbaceous way that often becomes somewhat too intense and therefore obtrusive.
The fragrance reminds me in character of Orange Balsam because the two share a soft, balsamic and wonderfully round sweetness that takes away some of the lavender oil’s dryness and makes the fragrance (at least for my nose) considerably more approachable. A bit of the lavender’s tartness still comes through, though.
I could imagine that the two varieties have a similar base recipe.
As mentioned by Ashok, the composition inherits a vague, lemon-like aspect; a tangy freshness as you may know from lavender hydrosol.

That being said, the fragrance of Pearl is considerably more complex than just being a ‘sweet lavender’. I get other floral notes as well, which I can’t name for the most part. The only flower that pops into my mind whilst smelling is lily of the valley.
The fragrance has a lot of depth, which is surely due to the balsamic, slightly resinous base.
In the course, the intensity of the sweetness fluctuates and thereby occasionally let more of the freshness and tartness come through.

Pearl have a dynamic, lively fragrance with much depth and complexity that puts the lavender scent in centre-stage but presented it in an unconventional way.